snapped the first picture.”
The bailiff handed me her laptop. There, in glorious
color was a view of Alito in his late-model black Honda
with the edge of the blue warning sign just visible. His
rearview mirror was dead center. Nothing dangled from
it except a set of rosary beads.
“Mr. Alito then got out of his car and had no trouble
walking into the Gifts and Glass Warehouse. That’s the
second picture on the screen, Your Honor. Now if you’ll
click to the third picture?”
I clicked as directed.
“My friend helped me with my wheelchair and I
went around to the rear of his car and took a third
picture of his license plate. As you see, it is a standard
North Carolina plate, not one issued to the disabled.
At that point, I called for a tow truck and wrote out
the citation.”
I signaled for the bailiff to show the laptop to Mr.
Alito, who looked at the pictures with a distinctly sour
expression.
“What did you do next, Dr. Allred?” Kevin asked.
“The parking lot was quite crowded. There were reg-
ular spaces way off to the side, but all the other nearby
handicap spaces were legally taken. An elderly couple
with a tag asked us if we were coming or going so they
could have my spot, but I told them just to wait a few
88
HARD ROW
minutes and that the one in front of me would be open-
ing up as soon as the tow truck got there. Then my
friend and I went inside and finished our Christmas
shopping. When we came out, Mr. Alito’s car was gone
and the other car was parked there.”
“No further questions,” Kevin said.
“Your turn, Mr. Alito,” I said. “Do you wish to ques-
tion the witness?”
He blustered a moment, then said, “I’d just like to
ask her if she followed me in the store and saw what I
bought?”
“No, sir,” Dr. Allred responded promptly.
“Well, if you had, you’d’ve seen me buy a Christmas
present for my eighty-nine-year-old mother and she
have a handicap tag. Her heart’s so bad she couldn’t
walk across this room without her oxygen tank.”
Dr. Allred looked at him over the top of her glasses.
“I’m sorry to hear that, sir, but she wasn’t in the car
with you, was she?”
Alito turned to me. “Ma’am, can I just explain what
happened in my own words?”
“Certainly,” I said. “But first, I have a question for
